1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display module and, more particularly, to a thinner and lighter display module wherein a front case on which an LCD panel and a driving circuit unit are mounted is coupled with a rear case on which a back light assembly is directly installed, and thereby a top chassis, a back cover and a mold frame which are used in a conventional display module can be removed.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a great supply of personal computers (PC), notebook PCs employing an LCD as a displaying unit are widely favored and the demand therefor is on the explosive increase. The notebook PCs have smaller portable sizes and can be used without a separate power supply because it can be operated with a storage battery installed therein.
The notebook PC is designed to have peripheral devices of a desk top PC, e.g., a CD-ROM, a modem and a speaker, therein. With the development in the LCD fabricating technology, larger monitors for the notebook PCs are realized. At present, approximately 13" diagonal size LCD panels are employed in the notebook PCs. This is a sketchbook size beyond the notebook size, i.e., an A4 paper size.
As the size of the monitor increases, the whole size and weight of the notebook PC also increase. As a result, the notebook PCs are losing its portable feature. Most notebook PCs have a thickness of 40 mm and a weight of 2 to 3 Kg. With a larger monitor, the weight of the notebook PC may become beyond that.
The display part of the notebook PC including an LCD module and a plastic case have a weight of up to 500 to 700 g which occupies a considerable portion in the whole weight of the notebook PC.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional LCD module will be described more in detail.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional LCD module includes: a back light assembly 5 to 9; a plastic mold frame 25 in which the back light assembly is settled; an LCD panel including upper and lower substrates 10 and 11; a driving circuit unit 1 to 4 for driving the LCD panel; and a top chassis 24 for protecting the driving circuit unit. The LCD module is installed in a plastic case with front and rear plastic cases 21 and 22.
The back light assembly is composed of a light guide plate 6; a reflector sheet 7 attached to the bottom of the light guide plate 6; a series of overlying sheets 5 attached to the top of the light guide plate 6, for diffusing and concentrating light; a lamp 8 installed at an end of the light guide plate 6; and a lamp cover 9 installed around the lamp 8.
When light is supplied from the lamp 8, the light is guided by the light guide plate 6, reflected by the reflector sheet 7, diffused and concentrated through the series of overlying sheets 5, and transmitted to the LCD panel 10.
For stability of the structure, the conventional LCD module has a double cased structure including the top chassis 24 and the plastic mold frame 25 which serve basically the same function. This results in increased weight. Accordingly, the weight and thickness of the notebook PC employing such an LCD module cannot be reduced.